Almir Chediak -- notated, recorded Brazil's pop music

Larry Rohter, New York Times

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, June 1, 2003

2003-06-01 04:00:00 PDT Rio De Janeiro -- Almir Chediak, an arranger, producer, composer and publisher who was one of the most important behind-the-scenes figures in Brazilian popular music over the last 20 years, died May 25 in a robbery attempt at his weekend home in the mountains north of here. He was 52 and lived in Rio.

The police said Mr. Chediak was shot to death by robbers who broke into his country house thinking he had already returned to Rio, and they feared that he had recognized one of them. Two men have been arrested, one of whom was the caretaker of a neighboring house, but each accuses the other of having shot Mr.

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Although not widely known to the public here or abroad, Mr. Chediak had a huge reputation among Brazilian musicians. Nearly all the well-known artists to emerge here since the bossa nova movement of the 1950s and the tropicalista movement of the 1960s had called on Mr. Chediak to notate, organize or record their work or had studied music theory with him.

Mr. Chediak was born into a Lebanese immigrant family here on June 21, 1950.

He showed an early aptitude for music, starting guitar lessons at 7, working professionally as a guitar instructor by the time he was 17, and later scoring soundtracks for films and writing string and horn arrangements for recording sessions.

But Mr. Chediak's most significant contribution to Brazilian popular music was introducing the precise transcription of the complete lyrics, melodies and harmonies of leading composers for publication in songbooks. The idea was born when Mr. Chediak was giving guitar lessons to the son of Caetano Veloso in the mid-1980s and found that Veloso was often at a loss to remember what chords he had played or the words he had sung on a particular song.

"I have never been one to pay much attention to that sort of thing, since I tend to write a song and move on," Veloso recalled in an interview late last year. "But Almir was so dedicated, so intent on deciphering the proper chords and harmonies, that he won me over and convinced me to work with him on a songbook." It included the definitive versions of nearly 200 of Veloso's songs.

Later songbooks by other artists were often accompanied by CDs that had new and innovative versions of the songs performed by other leading names of Brazilian popular music. He produced those albums, and was widely praised for rescuing obscure songs and for persuading artists to record songs that were thought to be at odds with their usual styles or public images.

"To tell the truth, I consider Almir Chediak's work an act of patriotism because it has to do with the memory of Brazil," Antonio Carlos Jobim wrote in the introduction to his own songbook, published in 1991. Thanks to Mr. Chediak's efforts, he added, "we can now sing and play the songs with their proper harmonies whenever we want, and that is wonderful."

Gil is now minister of culture in the government of President Inacio Lula da Silva that took office in January, and he paid tribute on Wednesday to the importance of Mr. Chediak and his work.

"Almir provided the bridge between the poetic and the technical with mastery and dedication," Gil said in an official statement, adding that because of his efforts musical compositions "will always be available for the use of future generations."

Mr. Chediak published musical-theory books that are widely used in Brazil. Two of his works published in the 1980s, "Dictionary of Notated Chords" and "Methods of Harmony and Improvisation," have been influential in training the generation of young Brazilian musicians now entering their prime.

When Mr. Chediak was buried at a cemetery here on Tuesday, dozens of singers and musicians sang songs that he had produced or notated and expressed hope that someone would carry on his work.